Federal political reporter

Queensland's public sector union will seek to launch a constitutional challenge against state government legislation stripping away job security from public servants' pay deals.

The Together union and the Queensland Council of Unions had already launched a legal challenge in the Supreme Court in Brisbane against July 31 government directives to strip job security clauses from work agreements.

But last week, the government enshrined the changes in legislation, with Parliament passing a bill to remove employment security and no-contracting-out clauses from those agreements.

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In a media statement, law firm Slater and Gordon, acting for the Together union, flagged a fresh challenge against the new legislation.

Lawyer Andrew Rich said the government's legislation was an attempt to defeat the original Supreme Court challenge against directives issued by the Public Service Commissioner.

"The legislation now provides that clauses about contracting, employment security and organisational change in existing certified agreements are of no effect," he said in the media release.

"We will argue that the legislation breaches the separation of powers in the Queensland Constitution in that it interferes with concluded judicial proceedings by overriding agreements certified by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

"We also argue that the legislation undermines the integrity and the appearance of independence and impartiality of the QIRC and therefore also contravenes the Australian Constitution."

The state government has previously argued in Parliament that it was confident of defending the challenge against the directives, but the legislation would provide certainty.

It has said the changes are needed to allow the government to ensure the public service is the "right size" and affordable.

Treasurer Tim Nicholls said he was confident the challenge would fail.

‘‘Obviously, we’ll have to deal with the outcomes of the courts and the proceedings, but at this stage we’re confident the changes we’ve made are constitutionally valid,’’ he told reporters today.

‘‘And we’re confident that the outcomes that we’re preparing for in the budget will stand up to scrutiny.’’

Together union secretary Alex Scott said the earlier court challenge against the government directives would be held over to allow the challenge against the new legislation to proceed.

‘‘Today, the Together union has taken the unprecedented step of constitutionally challenging the abhorrent legislation passed by this government,’’ he told reporters outside court.

‘‘We don’t believe there’s ever been a challenge on a Queensland constitutional basis of state industrial relations legislation.’’

Mr Scott said the union had already spent between $1 million and $2 million on its campaign against the state government action, including an advertising push, out of a $5 million fighting fund.

‘‘This [challenge] will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for our union ... but at the end of the day our hospitals need to be protected,’’ he said.

Mr Scott argued the legislation passed last week was designed to allow the outsourcing of part of the Queensland health system, because it removed contracting protections from a number of health employee agreements.

He said pathology, pharmacy and support work could be at risk.

Mr Rich said he proposed to argue the challenge, based on both the Queensland and Australian constitutions, in the Queensland Supreme Court.

However, because the Australian constitution is involved, attorneys-general in other states must also be notified.

‘‘This will turn on the separation of powers in Queensland and upon the independence and perceived independence of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission,’’ Mr Rich said.

Mr Rich said he was aware of the possibility the government could cut jobs under the legislation it passed before the constitutional challenge was resolved.

He said he would monitor government job cuts and whether the state government was using the legislation currently being challenged.

At a brief hearing today, the matter was adjourned for a Supreme Court directions hearing for September 28.

- additional reporting by AAP

25 comments

Oh my......I bet they didn't see this one coming - looks to me like there may be more last minute legislation to be passed before we get to the Supremem Court?

Commenter

Pete

Location

Deception Bay

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 11:12AM

Pete

Better still, pass legislation to remove the Supreme Court.

That's stop those nasty little critters!

Cheers

Commenter

Dalliance

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 1:32PM

Perhaps Slater & Gordon could get Julia back on the team. She could open a file on the case, or not open a file.

Commenter

Oscar

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 12:02PM

Actually Oscar , thats is a pretty heartless comment , you said the other day you dont like making first comments to a story as it attracts people having a go at you - you certainly proved it with that comment

Commenter

Bob Menzies

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 2:26PM

Or satirical, your choice.

Commenter

Oscar

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 2:57PM

I'll let others decide that one

Commenter

Bob Menzies

Location

Cannon Hill

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 3:44PM

Oscar your comments are nothing more than online bullying. If you can't add to the debate in a constructive pattern - then don't say anything or you might end up in court.

Commenter

Bad call

Location

City

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 3:47PM

Welcome to the forums Bad Call. What I jokingly said was very mild in comparison to what others say, and if that was the case then I guess there would be a lot of people being sued right now, particularly those in the Union movement who started this ball rolling along time ago.

Commenter

Oscar

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 4:16PM

Sadly this won't even matter. QLD has a flexible constitution which can be changed by a 2/3rds majority vote in parliament rather than referendum like the federal constitution. If they lose the case the government will just change the constitution and reenact the laws.

Commenter

Liam

Location

Nathan

Date and time

August 31, 2012, 12:12PM

This has happened because this Govt has not thought anything through. Like the majority of their policies that are "done on the run" (so much for Can Do & his 4 pillars for the economy). This debacle will no doubt cost the tax payers of Qld big time & all because of the incompetence of the LNP.